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"Thirty eight minutes," Sheppard rasped as he flicked the off switch on his radio.
He heaved in a painful breath as Ronon steadied him with a strong hand to his shoulder.
Mckay was still trying to bandage Sheppard's wound, but his fingers stilled when he realised what Sheppard had just said.
"Oh no."
"What?" Ronon asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked between the two men.
They clearly had an understanding of the significance of thirty-eight minutes, but he was at a loss.
"The wraith have dialled out, which means we can't leave here," Mckay answered in a voice that hitched up at the end.
"Why thirty eight minutes?" Ronon asked as he held Sheppard up, watching the mans face for any signs that he was going to keel over. He certainly looked like he would. Sheppard was pale, breathing in short increments and his hands were balled into tight fists. He wasn't a Doctor, but even he could see that Sheppard couldn't wait that long.
Mckay sighed, sat back on his heels and was about to answer when Sheppard spoke over him.
"It's the length of time a gate can stay open in non-relativistic conditions. It's one of the more immutable laws of wormhole physics," he smiled weakly and sagged slightly, "See……. I do listen to you ………Rodney."
"Remind me to give you a gold star when we get back." Mckay answered acerbically, "We're screwed."
"We're not screwed," Sheppard assured him.
A dart flew over their heads, the trees shifted violently, waving their branches like arms trying to give away their position. The threat of the wraith was still imminent and as the sky continued to darken, the sense of foreboding became more conspicuous.
Mckay finished positioning some gauze on Sheppard's side and admired his work with a grimace.
"How's it looking?" Sheppard asked as he feebly gripped his P90 and pointed it forwards.
He was struggling to stay conscious and focused.
He needed to keep moving.
"The bullet only nicked your side by the look of it, but you're still bleeding a lot."
Sheppard nodded, "Wounds will do that."
Mckay gave him a pointed look and sighed. "Seriously Colonel, we need to get you back to Carson."
"That's not really an option right now," Sheppard said as he struggled up to his feet.
He was shaky, he was feeling sick and weak, but he was upright, and for now that was all that mattered.
"We just need to get through the next half hour," Sheppard said as he put one foot in front of the other.
He promptly tripped on his own feet and Ronon grabbed him by the back of his tac vest to stop his face connecting with the floor.
Silence passed between them as Ronon and Mckay exchanged worried looks and only the howling wind could be heard.
"Thanks," Sheppard eventually said, straightening up and looking embarrassed.
"This is ridiculous," Mckay said in a loud voice, "You should be resting."
"Oh sure Rodney, and if a wraith comes along I'll just tell him that I can't fight right now because Mckay says so," he sighed and dug his heels into the mud, "Right now, I have ten…" he stopped and corrected himself, "eight inexperienced soldiers back there and I have to get them back to Atlantis. I'm not going to lose them again."
"What do you mean again?" Mckay asked.
Sheppard waved him off, "Later. Look, I'm patched up for now. I'm not going to bleed to death so let's just go find Lorne."
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As the white light enveloped them, Sheppard was certain he could hear and even feel the concussive force of the Hive ship exploding. He wondered briefly if this was his minds fledging attempt to hold onto consciousness, one last sensory overload before he disappeared into the ether.
He'd experienced death before. The Iratus bug. But, he had seen nothing. Only an all-encompassing darkness. There was no bright light. Not like now anyway.
Within the unbelievable blink of an eye, he found himself alive and well, Laraby standing beside him, as he materialised on the familiar bridge of the Daedalus.
Caldwell was standing expectantly before them, his hands crossed over his chest, and a grim smile plastered onto his stern face, "Thought you could use some help down there."
"Uh…thank you?" Sheppard said as he let go of the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.
His last breath.
"What in the hell….?" Laraby gasped as he turned in a tight circle and patted his body down in search of injuries.
"We thought we'd better pull him out too," Caldwell stated as he watched the young Lt.
Sheppard acknowledged him and turned to Laraby.
"Welcome to the Daedalus," Sheppard said.
"Where are we? What happened? I thought we were dead!"
Sheppard looked over to Caldwell who merely raised one eyebrow and then he gripped Laraby by his shoulders and turned him around to stare out of the forward window of the Daedalus.
"Woah," Laraby said as he looked out at the expansive canvas of stars, "We're……. in…….. space."
Sheppard licked his lips, noticed that the same metallic taste was present, and said, "Enjoy the view," to Laraby as he joined Caldwell at one of the consoles.
"Was it destroyed?" he asked.
Caldwell pointed to a screen, the area in which he was extracted from, and Sheppard could see the blast mark radiating outwards.
"I should think so."
Sheppard straightened up with difficulty and surreptitiously held onto his aching side, "I have to say I'm surprised to see you Colonel," Sheppard said as he breathed through the pain in his gut.
Caldwell gave him a sideways glance, his eyes roaming Sheppard's body and taking a mental inventory of his injuries, "We were in the neighbourhood."
"Not that I'm not pleased to see you or anything Colonel, but what are you doing here?"
Caldwell put his hands on his hips and spoke in a low voice, "General Landry asked us to keep an eye on you."
Sheppard screwed his face up in complete incomprehension, "What?"
"He wasn't aware of the circumstances in which you were recalled, all he knew was that the Stark was operating for the SGC's shadow committee. He grew concerned when Stark put in for a transfer………for your post should you not return."
Sheppard felt his mouth go dry, "What?"
"We've been tracking you for a while, but when you're subcutaneous transmitter became weak we decided to intervene. We detected a massive overload in what I'm presuming was a Hive ship and decided to pull Laraby out alongside you."
Sheppard exhaled, "Thanks."
"I don't know what you got yourself into here Colonel, but all I can say is, you look like hell."
Sheppard laughed bitterly and steadied himself on one of the consoles.
"This is amazing," Laraby said as he joined them.
Sheppard quickly straightened up as if there was nothing wrong.
"Lt Laraby," Sheppard said, "This is Colonel Caldwell. The man who saved our asses down there."
Laraby saluted awkwardly, "Thank you Sir," he said as his eyes roamed the room in wonderment.
"Colonel," Caldwell said as he turned to Sheppard, "Are you satisfied that the target was destroyed?"
Sheppard nodded, "Yeah. I'm satisfied."
"It's gone?" Laraby asked with a look of relief.
He turned to Sheppard and leaned in to ask, "Doe Colonel Caldwell know about the-"
Sheppard gave Laraby a pat on he back, "Laraby I think you should get checked over by a doctor before we return to Earth."
Laraby kept his mouth clamped shut and nodded as he was escorted by one of the Daedalus officers to the infirmary.
When Laraby had gone, Sheppard allowed the crease of pain he had kept ironed out to become more prominent and gripped the console for support.
"I want you to see a Doctor too," Caldwell said.
"No," Sheppard said raising a hand, "I'm fine, Just a few broken ribs."
"You look like a mess and you can barely stand."
"I'm fine," Sheppard said again, his voice rising in intonation, "Sorry," he quickly admonished, "It's just….I lost some men down there."
"Am I to assume you can't tell me what you were doing down there?" Caldwell asked.
"I think you could probably guess."
"Look," Sheppard said attempting to look more human for the sake of Caldwell, "Once Laraby has checked out of the infirmary I need you to beam us back down."
"Back to the blast site?"
"No," Sheppard said, "I'll give you the locations closer to the time."
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He was panting, he was sweating, he was barely standing, but he made it to Lorne and the rest of his men. They were kneeling down behind a thicket of bushes, huddled together with their weapons out and ready to fire if they had to.
"Hey," Sheppard said as Ronon let him go and he non-to gently fell to his knees.
"Sir, are you ok?" one of his men asked.
Sheppard dismissed him with a quick look, "I'm fine."
He moved over to Lorne who was staring down at the gate through a pair of binoculars, "So, you beat me at paintball then?"
Lorne turned to him and grinned, "In other circumstances I would be doing the winners dance right now."
Sheppard smiled briefly.
"What we got?"
"They've still got the gate surrounded and activated-uh Sir?"
Sheppard grabbed his binoculars, "Yes I know," he stated quickly, "Bullet just nicked me, I'm fine."
He stared through the binoculars and out to the expanse of flat, green land spreading out in front of him. There was a ring of trees surrounding the area, which they could use for cover in order to get closer to the gate, but the DHD was out in the open.
"Okay, we're pinned. We'll have to double back and get some ordinance from the camp."
"I'll go," Ronon instantly volunteered.
Sheppard was about to say he would go when Lorne said, "I'll go with him."
Mckay was giving him the evil eye, which was telling him that he wouldn't be able to make it there and back with his injury. Sheppard didn't know whether to be disturbed or relieved that he could read Mckay with a look. He guessed that it was a product of them being team-mates all these years.
"Okay, go…but watch your backs. We're going to have to get down there as soon as that gate shuts down and we're going to need a big distraction."
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The area they were hiding in was safe enough and it seemed for now that the wraith were only flying over head searching for them and not wasting time by putting men out there on foot. For now anyway.
Hidden by the thick cover of trees over their heads, the men were positioned in a tight defensive circle.
Jefferies, sans Adams, was nervously clutching his weapon in a white-knuckle grip. His heart wanted to make an escape attempt through his chest and he was sure that if he breathed any quicker he would hyperventilate and have an embarrassing panic attack.
He fearfully peered over his shoulder to where Colonel Sheppard was leaning up against a tree. There was something about the way he was standing, the way he was hunched over to his one side that told Jefferies that there was something wrong with him. Whether he hadn't said anything out of bravery or pure stupidity, Jefferies knew that his CO was injured and hiding it.
The pallor of his face was unnaturally pale and he looked flustered despite the chilling rain that was still descending from the skies. His colourless face was accentuating the dark rings under his eyes.
"Have you seen him sleep since we got here?" Jefferies asked King in a low voice.
King flicked his eyes over to him and shifted towards him, "What?"
"Colonel Sheppard," Jefferies informed him as the thunder rumbled over their heads, "I haven't seen him sleep since I got here."
King shrugged and scanned the flat horizon with squinted eyes, "I don't know. He's used to this. Probably never sleeps."
"But it's not right," Jefferies said as something snapped to their left.
Both men turned quickly and waited, but it was merely a branch falling from a tree.
They exhaled simultaneously.
"If we get out of here alive, I'm going to mention it to the Doctor."
"What?" King said in a disbelieving voice, "And risk him finding out?"
"When me and Adams," he paused. What the hell had happened to him? "..when we were on corridor watch, he was up, just walking around."
"So."
"And he took over our watch from us that one night and then he was on watch every other night. That's at least four days without proper sleep."
"I'm sure he knows what he's doing."
"And he's injured it and he's hiding it."
King groaned, "What are you? A detective?"
"No, look, I'm just concerned okay."
"If he was injured. He'd only be hiding to protect us from it."
Jefferies nodded thoughtfully.
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Mckay wandered over to Sheppard and gave a quick and cursory look at his side.
"Stop it."
"I'm just making sure that you're not bleeding to death," Mckay said rubbing his hands up and down his arms in an attempt to stay warm.
"What are you doing here Rodney?" Sheppard asked, rubbing the rainwater off his face.
"I told you. I had a free couple of hours and I thought I would come-"
"Check up on me?"
"No."
"Let me guess. Elizabeth sent you…" he quirked an eyebrow and when Mckay could only flail and babble incoherently he said, "I knew it."
"She just wanted me check that you were okay. I was concerned too."
Sheppard pushed off from the tree and took a few tentative steps, "Well, I'm touched," he said in a tone that dripped sarcasm, "But, I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping all that well."
"Why not?"
"Because I haven't," Sheppard answered coldly.
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Laraby had checked out okay, but Sheppard had refused medical attention. After all, it was just a few broken ribs. When he'd dealt with Stark, he would seek the attention he needed.
"You ready?" Caldwell asked when Laraby stepped into position.
"Yes Sir."
"You'll be beamed down to just outside the base. Don't say anything to anyone until you've spoken to me," Sheppard explained.
"What about you?" Laraby asked.
"I'm planning a little surprise of my own."
"Okay," Laraby said," I guess………. I'm ready."
Caldwell turned to Webbs and gave him the go-ahead.
Laraby disappeared in a flash of white light.
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"Where are they?" Mckay asked as he paced and forth while agitatedly looking around for any hiding wraith.
"They'll be here soon," Sheppard said as he stretched his side experimentally.
It proved to be a mistake. The wound was torn open, the gauze lifted and Sheppard could feel the blood running down his side again and collecting in the waistband of his pants.
"Dammit!" he cursed in a hoarse voice.
"Now why did you do that?" Mckay asked as he trudged over to him.
"I did it deliberately," Sheppard snapped as he slapped Mckay's hands away.
He was aware that some of the men had turned to see what the commotion was all about and Sheppard angrily pushed Mckay away.
"Leave it," he said, "I'll deal with it when I have time. How much longer before the gate shuts down?"
Mckay angrily looked at his wet watch and said, "Seven minutes."
"Sir?"
"Lorne?" Sheppard said activating his radio with a sigh of relief.
"Sir," his voice was breathless and hurried, "We've found the explosives, but you need to get moving. There are wraith pursuing us."
"Okay, we'll move into a position closer to the DHD. In…….five minutes we're going to need a diversion so Mckay can get to the dialling device."
"Me?" Mckay squeaked.
"So Mckay and I, can get to the DHD."
"Consider it done. Lorne out."
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Colonel Stark was sitting behind his desk, silently sipping a cup of coffee and shifting through his reports when a blinding light lit up his office and had him standing up and dropping his coffee in one ungainly move.
The light slowly dissipated and before him, unbelievably, infuriatingly, stood Lt. Colonel John Sheppard.
"Sorry to drop in," Sheppard said taking a step towards Stark's desk and planting his hands down on top of it.
"Colonel Sheppard?" Stark said in a voice devoid of emotion.
"You seem surprised to see me," Sheppard said he blinked through dizziness and discomfort.
"You could say that," Stark said as he looked down to his pants, relieved to see the wetness was coffee, "I thought you were-"
"-Dead," Sheppard said with a nod, "Thankfully, the Daedalus beamed me and Lt Laraby out just in time. The only member of my team to survive."
"I'm sorry to hear that. But the ship was destroyed, yes?"
"Yeah, the threat has gone."
"I can imagine that you're angry at the loss of life but in war there are always acceptable losses."
Sheppard stared at Stark in contempt, "These lives weren't acceptable."
Stark gathered up the papers on his desk and ordered them neatly without looking up.
"They're families will be notified and-"
"You know damn well that they had no families to contact if they died."
Stark met his eyes and leant on his desk, "I should hope you're not accusing me of deliberately sending those men to their deaths."
Sheppard removed his steadying hands from the desk and straightened up, "You know, there's one thing that I can't figure out."
Stark was smoothing down his uniform, "What's that?"
"Why you ordered an Air strike on my position. In my mind, the only possible reason would be if you suspected that there was an immediate threat there. Say for instance, that there were wraith inside."
Starks face turned ashen.
"You sent me and my men on a suicide mission by not telling us that you already knew that the wraith were occupying that ship."
Stark put his hands up and looked aghast as he sat behind his desk, "We interrogated an Afghan soldier who spoke of Ghost stories. He said that the Afghans didn't go to that area because people disappeared. He said that a few weeks ago, his friends disappeared down there. I can't base decisions on folklore."
"You knew what that meant," Sheppard said slamming his hands down onto the table and watching the stationery rattle, "And you sent us anyway."
"The ship needed to be eliminated either way and it was far more effective for you to destroy it from the inside."
"So you admit it?" Sheppard asked, as he suddenly felt light-headed.
"I admit nothing, Colonel Sheppard, "Stark said stiffening in his chair, "And it's your word against mine."
"My men are dead because of your incompetence and I'm going to make sure that somebody hears about this."
Sheppard had to hold onto the desk for support as he blinked away the darkness from the edges of his vision.
"No."
"You knew we wouldn't come back alive."
"I think you should seek medical attention," Stark said as he vacated his chair quickly and came to stand beside Sheppard, "You can barely stand."
Sheppard ignored him and continued, "I know you put in for a transfer for my job in Atlantis."
"On the condition that you didn't return. I felt the expedition needed somebody with a little more experience and-"
"In that case, it would be Colonel Caldwell that that job goes to. You intended for me not to come back."
"No."
"Yes and I know what this is about."
Stark's lips formed into a thin line as his composure began to trickle away, "It's not about that."
Sheppard coughed into his fist and continued with his remaining strength, "I made a bad decision a few years ago and it affected you."
Stark paced over to the other side of the room, his body rigid, "I was up for promotion."
Stark couldn't conceal the anger in his tone. He'd been kept back because of Sheppard. If it hadn't been for him he could have retired happily and as a Brigadier General. Instead, he was still a Colonel and he would be damned if he retired before he reached his goal.
"And you didn't get it," Sheppard managed to say through the haze in his head.
Stark's mask dropped abruptly, his eyes narrowed and his mouth turned downward into a sneer, "Because of you." He snapped. "Because you defied my orders at a critical moment in the war. The committee felt that I should have been able to do more to stop you."
"Yeah well-" The words caught in Sheppard's throat and he staggered backwards as a wave of dizziness made the world around him pitch and turn. He dropped to his knees and managed to hold onto consciousness while Stark knelt at his side.
"I'll call the medics," Stark said as he ran out of the room, still seething with anger and burning with hatred.
Sheppard held onto the desk like it was a life-line, sure that Stark would simply abandon him and allow him to slip from this world without help.
He choked again, coughed violently and watched as a film of blood coated the floor. He tried to blink away the darkness but it was a pointless battle. He sagged to the ground and before his head had hit the floor, oblivion had claimed him.
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The explosions were shaking the ground as they ran, the sky was alight with beams searching them out, and the air was laced with tension and fear. Sheppard was operating purely on adrenaline, his legs pumping out necessity. Even as he ran he felt surreally dizzy with weakness.
Mckay reached the DHD first and began dialling as quickly as he possibly could. Sheppard covered his position by firing off shots from his P90 as his men made their way down the steep incline towards them.
"Come on!"
"Nearly there."
Mckay ducked a stun blast that struck the DHD with an explosion of light.
"Come on Rodney."
Sheppard could see that wraith had been dropped by the darts and were now marching down the hill after his men.
"Mckay!"
"One more…………done!"
Sheppard turned to him and shouted, "Send through your IDC and then go through." He turned back and fired at a wraith.
"What about you?"
"We'll be right behind you!"
Mckay quickly input his code and disappeared through the rippling event horizon. At the same time Sheppard ordered his men to run for the gate.
When his men finally reached him there was a flurry or activity around him as men fired off bullets into the oncoming Wraith and failing that went hand to hand to fight them off.
"Get through the gate!" Sheppard shouted.
He turned and was struck in the chest by a wraith.
As he skidded along the ground on his back, he fired up at it until it fell backwards and stopped moving.
Sheppard counted as his men went through and was just about to go through himself when he realised that King was lying on the ground, unmoving.
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Beckett had been sitting having a mug of coffee and lazily leafing through his reports when the first casualty had arrived. From that moment on, five more soldiers had been rushed to the infirmary requiring various treatments.
Beckett was treating a cut on one of the soldier's hands when Sheppard ran into the infirmary out of breath. He was accompanying King on the gurney. Beckett ran over and gave King a cursory look before instructing the medical staff to do a CT and set up an I.V line.
Beckett noticed how pale Sheppard looked as he stood there in the centre of the bustle of the infirmary.
"Are you okay?" Beckett asked.
"Is everyone okay?" Sheppard asked as he cast his eyes around the room.
Beckett immediately noticed that his eyes were glassy and wide.
"Come on," Beckett said coercing Sheppard over to a free bed.
"I'm okay," Sheppard said as he reached out for the bed.
"I'll be the judge of that," Beckett said, "Now, up onto the bed so I can take a look at you."
Beckett watched as Sheppard very slowly attempted to get up onto the bed. He planted his hands down and tried to pull himself up but he lacked the strength to do so initially. After a minute of struggling, Beckett helped him up.
Beckett turned when Mckay entered the infirmary, "Ah, there you are," he said as he came to stand beside Sheppard.
Sheppard's head was dropping and he was listing to one side where he sat.
Beckett reached out and shook his shoulder and Sheppard awoke abruptly, his head snapping up in one uncontrolled motion.
"Wha…?"
"So, how is he?" Mckay asked as he hooked a stool over with his foot and sat down.
"I'm fine," Sheppard slurred tiredly.
"You're fine?" Mckay guffawed, "You'd say you were fine if you were dead."
"But then I wouldn't be-able to speak," Sheppard said with a small smile.
"Look," Mckay said pointing to Sheppard's side.
"Snitch," Sheppard hissed.
Beckett unpeeled the gauze and let out a surprised exhalation, "I wouldn't call this fine Colonel."
Sheppard waved a hand and listed to the side again.
"It's still bleeding. It's a mess," Beckett said.
"Doc I……" Sheppard was falling forward and this time Beckett was too late to stop his descent.
Sheppard slipped off the bed, cracked his chin on the hard floor and collided with darkness.
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